, Kissinger went to Paris , and all we left behind was chaos , slaughter , and authoritarian governments that finally , over time , have emerged from that hell . When I go to visit those countries , I ’m going to be trying to figure out how we can , today , help them remove bombs that are still blowing off the legs of little kids . In what way did that strategy promote our interests ? ” But what if Putin were threatening to move against , say , Moldova — another vulnerable post - Soviet state ?